Korean Documentaries Opening Today 2025/02/12 in Korea

Korean documentaries opening today 2025/02/12 in Korea: "Life Unrehearsed" and "Poliboy"

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"Life Unrehearsed" (2024)

Directed by Banpark Ji-eun

A Korean-German co-production
Synopsis
Thirty-six years ago, Soohyun met In-sun at a Korean Christian Women's Association retreat in Germany and gave her flowers. Despite threats from her then-husband and the disapproval of Korean society, In-sun found love and chose to be with Soohyun. Now, the two of them-who came to work as nurses in a foreign country where they knew nothing of the language-are still there and already in their seventies. For half of their life, they have lived together in Berlin and shared in all the joys and sorrows of life. Soohyun and In-sun have stood in solidarity with other foreigners like themselves while also looking after one another. They are two people who overcame boundaries. This is their love story.

48th Seoul Independent Film Festival

"Poliboy" (2024)

Directed by Kim Dae-hyeon

Synopsis
In the spring of 1987, a 14-year-old boy named Song Gwi-cheol suddenly appeared at Korea University.

The boy, who ran away from his father's drunken violence in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, wandered around Cheongnyangni Station and met a student activist from Korea University who was wanted by the police. They spent the night together at a late-night comic book store.

The next morning, the wanted student, unable to take care of the runaway boy, brought him to Korea University. The boy lived in the student council room of Jeonggyeong University and earned the nickname Jeongdol. He felt a warm sense of family from his older brothers and sisters from the student activists and settled down at Korea University. The question he heard from his older brothers and sisters several times a day was, "Have you eaten, Jeongdol?" Jeongdol, who never refused food, sometimes ate six meals.

April 1987, when Jeongdol came to Korea University, was a time when the university was beginning to be engulfed in turmoil due to Chun Doo-hwan's "April 13 Constitutional Amendment" measures. In June, Poliboy followed his older brothers and sisters and participated in the June Struggle. He did not simply participate, but became a member of the activist group to the extent of participating in the Guro District Office struggle related to the vote counting fraud in the December 1987 presidential election.

Poliboy met with various older brothers as well as activists and discovered that he had talent for the janggu. After that, Poliboy became a member of the Korea University Nongak Band, participated in performances, and stood in front of the protesters holding drums. This became the opportunity for Poliboy to practice the janggu, and later Poliboy became a janggu master.

At one time, the Seongbuk Police Station detectives said, "If we catch Poliboy, we can grasp the entire Korea University activist group"."What kind of life did Poliboy live? Let's go back to the spring of 1987.